Forty MPs have agreed to sign a letter of no confidence in Theresa May as European Union negotiators threaten to block trade talks until March unless Britain agrees to settle the Brexit divorce bill.
The embattled prime minister is facing a fight on three fronts following another week of Tory turmoil in which Priti Patel become the second cabinet minister to resign and two other cabinet ministers — Damian Green and Boris Johnson — faced pressure to quit.
May now faces a “make or break” month as:
● Senior European politicians and officials warn that the talks are entering a “crisis mode” as a preliminary deal will probably not be reached in December, as previously expected, but could instead be postponed until March
● Plotters reveal that 40 Conservative MPs — eight short of the number required to force a leadership challenge — have joined a list of Tory rebels who want her to resign
● The EU withdrawal bill returns to the Commons on Tuesday with Labour expected to join Tory rebels to inflict a series of damaging defeats on the government.
Today Jeremy Corbyn issues an ultimatum to the prime minister and tells her to “govern or go” as she “shows every sign of being in office but not in power”.
In an article for The Sunday Times, the Labour leader accuses her of being too weak to deliver Brexit and claims the chaos surrounding her “crumbling” government risks “dangerously weakening Britain’s hand” in the talks.
“Continuing uncertainty about the government’s approach to Brexit is now the biggest risk facing our country,” he writes. “The prime minister must end the confusion, take on the ‘no-deal’ extremists in her government and back a jobs-first Brexit for Britain.”
Privately some Tory MPs and ministers agree with Corbyn and fear May has become a liability to the Brexit process. They are discussing whether the party needs a period in opposition to reinvent itself.
One minister said: “It’s a horrible thing to say . . . but we are getting closer and closer to the point whereby we need some time in opposition to regroup.”
The news comes as the European Commission has set up a “preparedness taskforce” for a no-deal Brexit amid fears that a collapse of May’s government could lead to Britain crashing out of the bloc.
EU negotiators say their UK counterparts have signalled willingness to resolve the key outstanding issue — agreeing to pay a €60bn exit bill — which is a condition for starting trade talks.
Michael Gove today suggested he would not block May if she decides to hand over extra cash to Brussels to secure a good exit deal. “I am not worried but I am determined to ensure that in my own department that we have everything in place for every eventuality,” he told the BBC.
The EU is concerned, however, that “turmoil” in the Tory party could prevent the British side from making a clear financial commitment at a key Brussels summit in December, which could delay progress until March or even bring down the government.
David Davis, the Brexit secretary, dismissed the turmoil as “issues that come up and go” and insisted May would steer the country through leaving the EU. “The prime minister will be here right through Brexit, to my retirement as it were until the end of Brexit and she’ll my boss for that – I’m quite certain of it,” he told Sunday With Niall Paterson on Sky News.
A Brexit adviser to a European prime minister said the talks were now “hostage” to the Conservative Party’s “internal psychodrama”.
He said: “This is a Tory party problem and there is nothing we can do about it here. Should we put all of our cards on the table with May — only to find out that she would be replaced months or even weeks from now?” A German government source said EU leaders had “no choice” but to rely on May as a partner, but it was difficult to conduct complex negotiations with a “moving target”.
Konrad Szymanski, Poland’s European affairs minister, who met Davis last week, said “both sides” had tried to use time pressure as “leverage” but he was confident of a “last-minute deal”, possibly in March.
His words were echoed by a senior government source in Austria, who said he expected Britain to commit to the financial part of the deal and kickstart the trade talks “latest by March”.
Downing Street hoped it had killed off any coup last month after it revealed that Grant Shapps, a former Tory chairman, had been the “chief rebel” assembling a list of MPs wanting May to go.
Rebel leaders say May has made the situation more dangerous because some MPs were now sending letters directly to Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 committee.
In an article for The Sunday Times, Davis today signals that the government will attempt to face down the rebels who are demanding a series of concessions on the withdrawal bill, including on “Henry VIII powers” and a binding vote in parliament on the final EU deal.
He writes: “The principal arguments by those who seek to derail this bill are that it involves a ‘power-grab’ . . . and that it undermines rights and protections on equalities, workers’ rights and the environment currently enshrined in EU law. They are both wildly wrong.”
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